Hi and welcome to another monthly overview!
Another month come and gone without me even fully realising it, it’s positively terrifying! April was an exceptionally good bookish month and as I looked at the stats then, I just knew I’d set myself up to fail in May and quite possibly all the following months as well, and my prediction came partly true.
I had a few hectic weeks at work, I was stressed and dead tired and I found I couldn’t focus at all on what I was reading even when I did like it. However, last week I saved the month by listening to two more audiobooks, making May my best bookish month in terms of audio this year (1.5 hours more than April).
I finally read three of my backlist books, novels I had been wanting to read for ages. Haven’t They Grown was a bit of of a disappointment, but I Know Who You Are was just as good as I’d hoped it would be. I also listened to A Court of Thorns and Roses and decided not to continue with this series as it is way too heavy on the romance for me, I did like the start and the action scenes, but there was just not enough of that and I’ve been told the next books are even worse. I also feel a love triangle coming on, and I am NOT down with that so this is where my ACOTAR adventure ends.
I managed to squeeze in another Spanish novel and this time I chose the Spanish translation of Darkly Dreaming Dexter. A few weeks ago, I was reminded of the fact that this was still on my TBR when I voted for Zoé to keep it (check out Zooloo’s Book Diary and go vote!), so I figured I might as well follow my own advice, and I’m happy I did, I loved it and I think I’ll read the second Dexter novel for my Spanish read this month.
In figures May looks like this:
May
Novels: 4719 pages over 16 books
Audiobooks: 68 hours over 9 audiobooks
And here’s what I did last month, and some of what I’ll be posting this month:
What I read (full novels):
To Best the Boys, Mary Weber
Killed (Henning Juul 5), Thomas Enger
The Harpy, Megan Hunter (review to follow)
Haven’t They Grown, Sophie Hannah
The Heatwave, Katerina Diamond
Given in Evidence (anthology) (review to follow)
The Nightmare Girl, Jonathan Janz (review to follow)
Bone Crier’s Moon, Kathryn Purdie
The Waiting Rooms, Eve Smith (review to follow)
Come Join the Murder, Holly Rae Garcia (review to follow)
El Oscuro Pasajero (Darkly Dreaming Dexter), Jeff Lindsay
The Bone Jar, S.W. Kane (review to follow)
I Know Who You Are, Alice Feeney
All the Stars and Teeth, Adalyn Grace
The Last Wife, Karen Hamilton (review to follow)
Shadows of the Woods, Duncan Thompson (review to follow)
What I listened to:
The Seventh Victim, Michael Wood
One Of Us Is Next, Karen McManus
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Day of the Accident, Nuala Ellwood
A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas
Slasher Girls & Monster Boys (review to follow)
Beast (Six Stories 4), Matt Wesolowski
You Have to Believe Me, Sunday Tomassetti
How to Kill Your Friends, Phil Kurthausen
What I read earlier but reviewed in May:
Ash Mountain, Helen Fitzgerald
The Wise Friend, Ramsey Campbell
What’s Left Of Me Is Yours, Stephanie Scott
What Lies Between Us, John Marrs
Dear Child, Romy Hausmann
Who We Were, B.M. Carroll
The House Guest, Mark Edwards
Last month I also turned the spotlight on the Mydworth Mysteries and showed you what was in the FairyLoot March box. I shared an excerpt from The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir and I talked about what books have taught me (part 3).
I hope you had a good month and that you are safe and well! Thanks for joining me today and happy reading xxx
Wow, you’re a bookish goddess!
I am worried! I have high expectations for Haven’t They Grown! xxx
Adding “bookish goddess” to my resumé 😂 I had high expectations for Haven’t They Grown too, and I think that was part of the problem. It started out great, but I ended up with a meh feeling. I gave it 3 stars, certainly not dreadful or anything, but nothing to write home about either, IMHO of course. But lots of people loved it and I hope you will too!!
Wow and that’s a bad month for you? 😲
No, not bad at all, just not the best 😄
Wow you were on fire in May! So many audio hours too… Also, I’m exactly the same when it comes to ACOTAR. Loved the beginning and the action, but too much romance for me and the hint at a love triangle made me scream and run the the opposite direction. I’ve heard the sequels are very heavy on the adult content, so I’ve decided to leave the series be. (I decided to stop reading the Throne Of Glass series after Empire Of Storms for the same reason.) xx
I’m pretty sure I’ll never get so many audio hours in again! This week is my last week working from home, and in the office I can’t listen to audiobooks 😕 It was fun while it lasted though 😄
I have the first in the Throne of Glass series on Audible and I was so hoping it would be better 😂
Oh but the first four Throne Of Glass books are great! The first had a few issues for me, but I loved both book two and three and book four was great too. It was the fifth that killed the series for me with the sudden adult content and constant sex talk. *shudders* xx
Ugh 🙄 This is what killed the Anita Blake series for me. I adored it until it became so heavy on the adult content it became pretty much erotica. I stuck with it as long as I could but after a few books where just about everything was about sex I had to let it go.
Yikes! You held on way longer than me haha. I actually already wanted to DNF the first book that changed… xD
I hope the work stress gets better soon, Kelly! ♥️
Thanks Jennifer 💜
Wow, you got quite a bit of reading done in May! A lot of these books I haven’t heard of before, so I will be looking forward to your reviews of them.
Thanks Sarah 😊
I have just seen this and the shoutout! Thanks lovely! You are awesome, you have had a fantastic bloody month! That is A LOT OF READING! lol. Glad you are on the Janz train now xx
You’re welcome and thanks, I did have a pretty excellent month 😁 I have been on the Janz train for a while now, looking forward to his taking over your blog! I’ve added 2 more of his books to my TBR 😁